Lifetime, Merv facing the future
Six-episode series will bow this fall at 10 p.m.
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Six-episode series will bow this fall at 10 p.m., paired with the repurposed episodes of psychic drama "Medium."
Repeats are part of the deal that Lifetime engineered in November to secure exclusive rights to the Paramount TV series, paying a network-record $1.35 million per episode (Daily Variety, Nov. 22).
Cabler is expected to announce the order today during the final cable day of the Television Critics Assn. press tour.
Lifetime entertainment president Susanne Daniels said "Lisa Williams" was attractive to the network because it would be a natural fit for "Medium," which stars Patricia Arquette as a working mom who can communicate with the dead. (Lifetime will be able to strip the show beginning in 2009.)
"One of the first things that I did when I got to Lifetime was work on the acquisitions of 'Desperate Housewives' and 'Medium,'" Daniels said. "When I knew we had those to work with, I started to think in terms of programming nights that involve those two shows."
Daniels also revealed that "Bianca," a sudser about a woman searching for new life after being imprisoned, got the go-ahead because it made a fitting companion for "Desperate Housewives," which the cabler will begin repurposing in August. "Bianca" premieres in October.
"Lisa Williams" will follow the psychic as she talks with people around the country, relays messages from the dead, resolves misunderstandings and helps out with everyday problems such as missing keys.
"Lisa is incredibly compelling. The pickup is very much a talent-driven deal," Daniels said.
"Lisa Williams" joins a reality slate that includes Brillstein-Grey's "Election," which casts Mary Matalin and James Carville as campaign managers for a high school election for student body president, and "Off the Leash," set at a Hollywood pet talent agency, from Kevin Dill and Mechelle Collins (Bravo's "Blow Out").
Daniels' first stab at a scripted drama, the crime procedural "Angela's Eyes" debuts Sunday at 10.
